Page 13 - Communication across Cultures

Chapter 1 Culture

Chapter 1 Culture

1.1 Nature of Culture

What does the word culture mean? It may mean very many things. For example, we
sometimes say that people who are able to read and write or who know about art, music
and literature are cultured. For different people, the word has a different meaning.
Some people assume that everyone knows what culture means, but they can hardly
define it. Some images modeled by scholars could help us understand the features of
culture.
1.1.1 Culture Is Like an Iceberg

One of the most well-known models of culture is the iceberg. Its main focus is on
the elements that make up culture. Some of these elements are visible, whereas others
are hard to discover. The idea behind this model is that culture can be pictured as an
iceberg: only a very small portion of the iceberg can be seen above the water.
Culture can be likened to an iceberg. Just like an iceberg, only a small portion of cul-
ture is visible on the surface, while the majority of its elements lie beneath the surface.
The visible part of culture includes tangible aspects such as food, cooking, lan-
guage, clothing, architecture, art, and music. These are the elements that are easily
observable and can be experienced or appreciated by outsiders. However, they only
provide a glimpse into the deeper layers of culture.
The larger, unseen part of culture consists of beliefs, values, customs, traditions,
and social norms. This lower part of the iceberg is the powerful foundation. These pow-
erful foundations of culture shape the way people think, behave, and interact with each
other. They are more difficult to observe: the history of the group of people that hold
the culture, their norms, values, beliefs about space, nature, time, etc. They are often
deeply ingrained and may not be immediately apparent to someone from a different
cultural background.

1